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40 Comments on “Mmmmm, Chocolate + a Giveaway”

What’s not to love about chocolate??? I’ve recently discovered a chocolate torte recipie (which is basically a brownie with very little flour so it’s super fudge-y) https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/double-chocolate-torte-104512. it’s delicious! my husband doesn’t eat many sweets, because he’s this crazy thing called self-disciplined, so it’s a big treat when we have company because that means yummy desserts!

I decided to collect all my husband’s coins and bring them to the bank. This is the money I will use to get my husband a Christmas gift. I am so excited because in a year he collects about $18 to $20!! This makes me feel guilt free when he says “we do not have the money to spend on me.”

Lori,
I just wanted to thank you for all the ways you’ve encouraged me to be a generous wife. I’ve written to you before about how our marriage has gone from near breaking up to where we are today: in a loving, faithful, committed relationship. It’s been like a gentle rain bringing a little Biblical truth to my inbox each day.
Merry Christmas to you and Paul and your entire family!

I’m kind of the ‘anti-chocolate’ guy (actually, I like white chocolate), but my wife loves chocolate (the darker the better). So I try to bring it home whenever I can. And, I travel a lot, so I like buy small packages and give them to flight attendants. It does seem to brighten their day.

This year we decided not to buy gifts for eachother so I had to get creative. My husband has had a box of old photos for years that are just all piled together. I found some photo alnpbums that someone had given us a long time ago and it was exactly the right number of pages for his photos. Christmas done.

I love chocolate! I don’t eat much food with added sugar anymore, since I joined weight watchers and have lost 30 lbs. But when I do have it, it’s more special. I prefer the gourmet chocolates like Lindt. I definitely appreciate it more now that I don’t have it much.

My hubs loves ALL things chocolate, I do too but those blood sugars of mine make it a really bad for me indulgence! I fill his stocking with chocolate every year. Sometimes I do a theme, like Christmas tree shaped chocolates, or Snowmen. This year I was thinking of chocolate with nuts for an “I’m nuts about you” kind of theme.

For Christmas I make all kinds of goodies Most of them Chocolate and make gifts bags with 1 or 2 pieces of each and share with friends, teachers, neighbors. I have even baked chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and other goods and taken to the local fire department. Everyone loves getting homemade treats for Christmas!

Chocolate. How can I pick a favorite? lol I like candy bars and their rich milk chocolate taste. I like dark chocolate with that slightly bitter effect. I just love chocolate. My favorite recipe for chocolate is actually Chocolate Gravy. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it or not. But I grew up eating this for breakfast with hot biscuits and bacon. It is so good! My Grandmother made it with water as she was poor during the depression and only those considered wealthy could spare milk for such an extravagance. But here’s the recipe:

Chocolate – I can’t pick a favorite, but I lean towards those w/ mint in them. I don’t like chocolate w/ coconut, don’t really like milk chocolate as much as a good dark chocolate. (I still remember when I discovered Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate – I could believe about three seconds after it came out, but don’t really know when that was!). Love a fudgy brownie, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate buttercream frosting on a choc cake (to support the frosting, of course) In my family, fruitcake has no nuts – but it does have chocolate chips!

Any chocolate that ends with “salted Carmel” in the name! 😉
I recently found a chocolate bar called “Emergency Chocolate” that I bought for stockings! Especially my daughter-in-law who’s trying to cut sweets but sometimes it’s just necessary!! Am I right?!?

I love the sea salt, milk chocolate, caramel! Oh goodness! Heaven in a bag when one can find them! We have a set amount taken out of each check and placed in a saving account through the year ( since Banks taking away the Christmas accounts from years past) in a bank that is out of the way. We use that as our Christmas fund! We have to be very intentional to go there so it is usually untouched! A little bit, or alot, adds up through the year, and then we don’t feel guilty!

· For gifts, esp low cost gifts, I’ll make either cookies in a jar or hot cocoa in a jar (dry ingredient only). Then I provide a recipe for the mix with beautiful holiday decorations. I like doing this because usually its already items I have in the house aside from maybe a jar so its little effort.

6 tablespoons peanut butter*
3 tablespoons coconut oil, liquefied
3 tablespoons honey**
2 tablespoons cacao or cocoa
1/2 teaspoon concentrated natural vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/2 cup cashews, crushed (I place them in snap lock bag and crushed them with my rolling pin)
Place all ingredients except for the cashews into a medium sized bowl and mix until it is well combined and looking deliciously chocolatey. Stir in the cashews. Pour the mixture into a silicon loaf tin or mini silicon muffin moulds. Place in the fridge or freezer to set and to store.
Eat and enjoy.
*you can sub the peanut butter with almond butter if you prefer.
*this will get soggy if left out so its best to serve and place it back in the fridge.

Another note: the recipe is also good without the cashews and a kid friendly dessert!

Dark! Sometimes with mint, sometimes peanut butter, sometimes plain. Stocking candy (read “chocolate ONLY ALWAYS!”) norms have been an issue for my husband and I, but 11 years later, we’re getting much better at remembering the right kind of candy for each other:)

Favorite recipe – Every year our entire family makes two layer peppermint bark. We simply melt semi sweet chocolate chips, pour them in a jelly roll pan. Cool. While that’s cooling, use a rubber mallet to pulverize candy canes. Then melt white chocolate chips and spread over the dark chocolate and sprinkle the top with the peppermint “sprinkles.” This stuff is amazing and makes a beautiful gift. Definitely a family favorite. I love to watch my husband, who is an engineer, take the lead in the kitchen with my kids as we make this delicious treat. He’s actually much more precise than me so it’s fun to watch him take command :)

Hi, my name is Jeff and I am a Chocoholic! Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans are my Kryptonite. My favorite chocolate baked good is Dark Chocolate Stout Cake with Chocolate Buttercream…I make a pretty good one if I do say so myself!

A family favorite of ours is the tradition of making, giving, and of course, EATING ‘buckeyes’, which are those round balls covered in chocolate. Inside is a mixture of rice crispies, confectionery sugar and butter. YUM! Oh, and there’s a touch of parafin in the chocolate, to help it stay solid and adhering to the peanut butter balls. I’d post the recipe here, but am sure it’s readily available online. YUM!!! Merry Christmas!! (You can use holiday candy papers and/or fancy gift boxes to make a special treat of the gift of home-made candies and your love!

Chocolate! What ! I am eating a four box sampler of Russell Stover as I am reading the blog. If you love chocolate like I do. Please do not go into the Dollar Tree. They have so much chocolate now for Christmas. How about chocolate ice cream with Hershey’s Chocolate on top. Chocolate kisses, chocolate covered peanuts are the best. My husband hates when I go to the store on the navy base because that’s the first item I go to. Brach’s chocolate covered double dipped peanuts. Can’t wait to go to the grocery store Saturday. Chocolate to me is like the Lay’s potato chip commercial. You can eat more than one. How about one and another one ……….. Chocolate is a must. Oh how good is chocolate. It is SWEET!!!!!!!!!

When I’m having a bad day or feeling blue or sick or a migraine has taken root, my husband’s go-to treat is to pick me up a package of peanut M&Ms. It’s a little thing, but it’s a sweet thing.
Chocolate = good
Especially if it’s dark chocolate, because then it’s super tasty and you can think about all the health benefits that go along with it.